Early Americans

During fieldwork we were to teach three lessons: direct instruction, inquiry, and cooperative learning. The first day of fieldwork I taught my direct instruction lesson. During this lesson I covered 400 years of material from Americans from the first Americans through slavery and the first form of government. I had a PowerPoint presentation corresponding with the information being taught. Students had a graphic organizer to fill in the notes throughout this lesson. Throughout the lesson I would ask questions and check for understanding. However, I did not just call on one person I would call on multiple people before saying "very good!" When I finished teaching I did three guided practice activities. One was to match the Columbian exchange pictures, the next was to match vocabulary words, and the third went over the amendments. The last thing I did was assign and go over the independent practice which was to write a paragraph explaining what you learned using at least ten of the vocabulary words.

I believe the Direct instruction lesson went well; however, there is always room for improvement. I noticed that I did sound too rehearsed and that I should be talking with the students like a conversation instead of putting on a fake teaching voice. Also, when asking a question I can have groups discuss the answer and then call on a different group randomly each time. This will include everyone in the class and have everyone thinking of an answer instead of just one person. I can also have traffic colored index cards throughout the lesson  and have students hold up which color card they feel after material was taught. If I see a majority of red or yellow cards I know that I have to go back and reteach the material. With these few adjustments this would make my Direct instruction lesson better.

Here is a link to my Direct Instruction PowerPoint.

During my inquiry lesson I pretended that the library flooded and librarians needed their help to put books and articles back together. After reviewing information from the previous lesson and the inquiry method students were to work in groups to solve a problem. They had a graphic organizer to fill out their problem, hypothesis, research and findings and their conclusion. Students had to go through different research articles to pick out an invention that would be most beneficial for their assigned job. After, students got to share their findings with the class.

I believe this was a good lesson and activity for students to get a deeper understanding on how the inventions in the industrial revolution impacted and changed people's lives. I also believe that working in groups and sharing findings with the class is good because students learn from their peers. However, I do believe that  I should have followed the story about the library being flooded throughout the whole lesson because it engaged students.

Here is a link to my inquiry and cooperative learning PowerPoint.

During my cooperative learning lesson students were to work in groups to come up with their own invention. Before students could complete this activity I modeled the steps and my invention as well as how students should behave and work with each other in groups (PIGS). I also told them that if the invention met the requirements it would be able to be patent. This engaged students and they wanted to come up with the best invention. Once each group had an invention they got to share with the class their invention and how it would be beneficial to people. Students then got to vote on the best invention. For their independent practice assignment students had to fill out a group processing forum which required them to rate themselves and a group. They also had to complete a newspaper article persuading people why they should buy their invention.

I really enjoyed this lesson and could tell that students really enjoyed this lesson. I believe that my model and directions were clear and students worked well with each other in groups. However, I do believe that I was rushed for time and need to be more aware of the time while completing lessons.

Here is a link to my three lesson plans.